CollagenMax (Updated 27th March 2009)

New Stuff Baby!!! (updated 27th March 2009)

Okay... I'm back to update this. Needless to say, I'm in no position to provide any before-after photos for this since I'm down with food allergy and the acne on my neck and lower cheeks are pretty bad. But I think... one photo blog is enough to show the effects of liquid collagen.. Checkout my blog on Kinohimitsu J'pan Beauty Drink... From what I gather, liquid collagen shows quicker results if compared to normal collagen supplements. Of course the absorption rate is higher.

Look, if you're feeling real ugly and down in the blues, thinking of saggy skins, opened pores and drooping boobs and butt.. basically you're feeling that you're aging... Give this a go. A box is worth the excitement of anticipating bouncy skin. And... if it doesn't work for you... heck... its not like this costs a bomb. After all... we should all age gracefully...

I gave this a green light starting last week. It works just the same as the Kinohimitsu one. I still get really firmed up moisturised skin after 2 days of consuming a bottle. Its amazing how these things work (I'm 28 by the way). Even my mum (55 this year) is starting on them now... Only... its cheaper and more worth your cash $ since you get 9000mg of marine collagen per bottle as oppose to the Kinohimitsu one which is 2500mg of marine collagen per bottle. However, both has its pros and cons.. which I'm going to list down below:

	Kinohimitsu J’pan Beauty Drink	CollagenMax
Taste	Nice like fruit juice	Fishy sweet liquid
Collagen Per Bottle	2500mg	9000mg
Other Ingredients	Perilla Seed Extract-WSP, Silk Protein, Soy Isoflavone, Apple, Lemon and Lycee Condensed Juices	Vitamin Bs, Vitamin C, Flavoring (I forgot… let me go home check the box again)
Collagen Source	Not Stated (Fish Collagen)	Deep Sea Cod
Maintenance	3 days 1 bottle	3 days 1 bottle
Pricing per bottle	RM15	RM15.80
Pricing per 1000mg of Collagen	RM6	RM1.76
Quality of Product	Claims to use all natural ingredients	Contains flavoring and synthetic consumable substance
My Preference	If money was no object, I’d choose Kinohimitsu anyday. They taste better and the ingredients does seemed of better stuff.	Obviously I now favour CollagenMax. A bottle is worth 3 bottles of the Kinohimitsu one and… they worked just the same.

Air Humidifier - Nice conditioned skin when you wake

Why wake up with dry skin and dry throat?

pic credit to http://www.thegreenhead.com/2005/11/ultrasonic-personal-humidifier.php

I've always wanted to blog about humidifiers. Not because they look cute or they make me any prettier... But... I think if you live in a place with dry air (perhaps from the winter), or somewhere hot like Malaysia and you use the air condition... You've definitely experienced that peeling lips, dry skin, dry throat syndrome. So here goes... the air humidifier!

If you're from Korea or have watched sad-OF-THE-saddest Korean dramas with hospital scenes of people waiting ermm -hiks-, you will notice... next to each hospital bed is a cute penguin humidifier. That's the one I'm having at home now! Muahahahahaaa... And again, no. I did not buy this. My dad was convinced by some friend that this would help him breathe better while sleeping... so he doesn't have to wake up with dry throat. Geez... now I know where I got my easily-convinced-shopper syndrome from...

Ah! In case you still don't quite get what I'm rambling about: Air humidifiers are household appliances that increases the humidity (moisture) of the air in a room.

So for the verdict:

• Ever woken up with peeling lips and skin that feels oh-so-dry even after you've loaded gunk of moisturiser on the night before? Or perhaps feeling that you might get a soar-dry throat anytime soon with the condition of the air in your room? So yeah... If you've got very bad sinus too... I think this helps... a lot!
• Try putting on some body lotion, and turn on the humidifier before you go to sleep in that really dry-air room. Wake up next morning... and voila! Soft moisturised skin... Cooolnessssss!!
• Moisturised lips in the morning? Check!
  
• Okay... so not all's good with humidifiers. Check out the wiki page and you'll see.. humidifiers allow reproduction of dust mites, bacterias and molds. Eeeewww... After all, these pesky living stuff prefers moisturised condition. So you might want to look out for a humidifier with Microban technology and purifier all in one to reduce the bad stuff.
  

Etsu Potion Mask - Collagen another step?

Collagen Mask...

I bought this mask to try when it was first introduced in KL several years back. And... very much being a "jakun", I haven't had my own DIY mask that came with a miniature mixer bowl and mask-brush. So when I first saw this.... WHOAAA>>> so cool!! Its like having your own facial saloon right at home... lol

Conclusion:

• This mask is relatively easy to mix and its really quite cool 'cos you'll end up with some gelatin-like texture mask to be brushed on your skin
• I hate the part where you've gotta wash it off. Amazingly the mask always leaves residue on your face even when you wash it off using the wash sponge. Yeah... that sucks
• I think it kinda soothes your skin after you so some DIY facial like picking out blackheads with the blackhead tool
• Overall... I don't really think its worth the price. Might as well get some soothing korean mask. Topical application of collagen as facial mask doesn't really seem to do much. Afterall.. its does not penetrate through your upper layer epidermis... so then... whats the point?
• But this doesn't make Etsu's stuff all bad.. They do have a range of collagen supplemants too you know... So maybe... those are worth better reviews. But... since I've not tried that and don't plan to for now.. who knows... Go Google your money's worth.. :p
  

Skin Allergies? Lactose Intolerance? Welcome to my world - Bioxil Inner D-TOX

Pro-biotics and Pre-biotics...?

I came across this by accident when I walked into Asterspring beauty saloon which carries Dermalogica and Averine products. No, I didn't go there for facial.. I stop facial ages ago after realising my breakouts are caused by internal factors and, facial only makes things worse. I went there to get the Averine concealer... But... the Bioxil Inner-D range were displaying on the racks... and whoaaa.... NEW STUFF. **cooool!!** And, it claims to help skin problems due to allergies...! muahahaha...

And I did the predictable... Start bombarding the beautician there with questions... Hmm.. I think she's more of a sales rep than a beautician. Lol. Okay, so fine. I'll just have a go at it. It costs RM128 per box of 30 sachets. So I guess that's not too much to ask for since I keep "accidentally" ingest dairy products...

Conclusion:

• You may take 1-2 sachet a day on an empty stomach
• Dilute with water at room temperature
  
• Tastes emm... surprisingly quite nice... like powdered room temperature unsweetened ice cream shake
• Light pinkish coloured
  
• Claims to have both prebiotics and probiotics that keeps your intestine happy
  
• If you're lactose intolerant and have lots of stomach bloatedness or discomfort after ingesting dairy products, this may be worth a try. I seem to digest my food better after about 20 sachets...
• I think my first box did help clear some blemishes... But I only saw results after one whole box... Then again... my nice clear skin then was probably because I was a good girl avoiding forbidden food... lol
• I've been relying on this to help my stomach problem each time I ingest dairy products... So yeah... I've purchased several boxes over the years... Sometimes, you can get this at a lower price online... if there's a willing seller...
  
• If you've already got nice clear skin and no stomach problem... don't waste your money. Go eat lots of fruits and veggies... Thats much better than ingesting some processed stuff like this
  

Facial Hair Remover - Introducing... the EPISTICK

Yeowch! But.. hell... It works like threading!

Again.. I watched some real convincing advert online... lol... This time, its Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzOYqJuKTVI

Now, if you've got visible facial hair or very visible open pores due to facial hair... I think you'd be tempted to buy this. Heck... its only RM5. Rather cheap for a beauty tool huh? And, I can tell you.. it does work. Only, you'll need to know how to use it properly. Follow the pictorized instruction and you'll definitely get there. Took me 3 mins to get the hang of using it. But.... took me another 3 to fully recover from the PAIN! hahahahhahaha...

Okay... if you've done threading on your face to remove little mustache you have above your lips... its going to feel just like that. Only, you are doing the threading yourself! Man... imagine inflicting pain on yourself... Yeah... yeowchhhhhhh....!! But really... this works. And for the price... its worth getting one if you can tolerate the pain... lol...


Conclusion:

• Yes it works! (but you gotta be using it the right way - see pictorial instructions that comes with the tool)
• Emm... the pain factor is 9/10 for me.. Cos.. I did it for the fine hair at the corners of my lips.... Very pain laa..................
• But once you see the plucked hair on the tool... whoaaa.... so cool.... lol
• I still use it... but not very often... Only when I need to
• Yeah... good for facial hair removal if you can take the pain... not for body hair removal okay? You need both your hands to work it... and when I tried it on my thigh just out of curiosity... OUCHHHHHHHHH!!!!!